Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams, tells the party's conference: "We have been ignored and marginalised for too long." She says there is "every chance there will be another hung parliament after this general election" and there is "every chance that we will be able to deliver our policies in government".

Image source, PA

Harriet Harman has confirmed to the Western Morning News, external that Labour's pink campaign bus which is spearheading the party's "woman-to-woman" drive for female voters will be making stops in Plymouth and Exeter before the end of the month. Ms Harman told the newspaper the campaign has so far been among the most "illuminating" she has been involved in.

Oh dear. Did someone have that Friday feeling over at the Treasury?

An email entitled DMP Qs found its way into the inbox of national newspaper and broadcast journalists tonight asking for lines Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg might take to be fact checked ahead of the Budget on Wednesday.

Needless to say the email wasn't intended for the press but for internal Treasury colleagues.

It took a somewhat pedestrian nine minutes for the civil servant to realise their mistake and seek to recall the email.

Sadly, though unsurprisingly, it would appear none of the journalists were going to let that happen in case there was some useful information contained within the message.

Then some, 20 minutes later a more senior Treasury civil servant emailed to inform journalists of the "error".

"Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for you, it contains no information on next week's Budget. Sorry! Thank you for your understanding," they wrote.

Spoilsports.

Image source, Getty Images

The latest disclosure of whom David Cameron has wined and dined at his country retreat, Chequers, over the past year has revealed that the prime minister hosted stars of last year's Comic Relief to celebrate the success of the fundraising event.

Talent including Lenny Henry, David Walliams, Alex Jones, James Corden, Davina McCall and Jo Whiley, attended a dinner there. The details were revealed in the latest disclosure of who Mr Cameron has entertained at public expense, covering April to June last year.

Other guests at the bash in May included BBC director general Lord Hall, film director Richard Curtis with his partner Emma Freud, and Premier League boss Richard Scudamore.

Image source, Getty Images

Much of the recent briefing from Whitehall in the last few weeks has suggested Chancellor George Osborne might have as much as £5bn to spend on a pre-election Budget giveaway on Wednesday thanks to the fall in the oil price, higher tax receipts and lower inflation.

Business Secretary Vince Cable tells the Guardian, external there's no room for a big giveaway from the government but appears to confirm the Treasury does have roughly that figure to play with and could use it for modest tax cuts or an increase in public spending.

But he says: "This budget, I think there is a common agreement across the coalition, cannot be some kind of pre-election bonanza because that would completely undermine credibility."

BBC Radio 4

Owen Jones says the country faces much bigger problems than whether the leader of the opposition "can eat a bacon sandwich or has two kitchens" and that it is "absurd that the political debate in the UK has been debased to whether Ed Miliband has two kitchens".

"What we have is a constant obsession with the personality and character of Ed Miliband and a media narrative of [Mr Miliband] as a pathetic reek and loser."

The Lib Dem's are holding their spring conference this weekend in Liverpool. It's the last chance to rally [and fire up] the troops ahead of a general election that most polls forecast will see the party lose a little over half their parliamentary seats. Their rally begins in 25 minutes according to the countdown clock on the website, external, which will be providing a live webcast. Let's see if whoever opens the conference can do a better job than Sarah Teather, external back in 2011.

BBC Radio 4

Are the Milibands fair game having opened up their home to the press, asks Eddie Mair on PM? Owen Jones columnist for the Guardian and Rupert Myers, who has written about Ed Miliband's kitchen for the Daily Telegraph, discuss.

Mr Myers says today's kitchen-sink drama is not really about the kitchens "it's about the way in which the Ed Miliband presents himself to the public". He says the use of the smaller of the two kitchens in the Miliband household in the photo op suggests Mr Miliband is trying to present a false image to the public.

David Dimbleby is in the Wirral for Any Questions tonight with Lib Dem president Tim Farron, Ken Clarke and Phil Redmond. That's from 20:00 GMT. We'll bring you the highlights once things get underway.

Tweets, external: Ed "two kitchens" Miliband: if we don't stop accusing the left of hypocrisy, then no one will ever address inequality, external

Tweets: A home of your own without a deposit from the Lib Dems - but it won't come cheap

How many seats do either Labour or the Conservatives need to win an overall majority at the election in 55 days time? 326 that's how many.

And neither of them is looking particularly likely to do it at the moment. BBC political correspondent Vicki Young - with the help of Election Forecast - has been looking at the various political permutations that could lead either David Cameron or Ed Miliband to the doors of Number 10 and frankly they're not pretty.

Right now the Tories look like winning the most seats with around 295 to Labour 267 seats. But will they be able to form a coalition with UKIP, the Lib Dems and the DUP?

Eleanor Garnier
Political correspondent

Image source, PA

The UKIP leader Nigel Farage has been told he hasn't got a "hope in hell" of stopping HS2 as he unveiled a poster on the issue in Buckinghamshire. On a visit to Wendover a former Conservative councillor told Mr Farage that HS2 is a "threat hanging over us for years and years and years and I'll be dead before that's resolved, I want it resolved now, what can you do about it today to solve it?"

Mr Farage responded saying, "the only solution is a political solution and if they fear they're going to lose parliamentary seats they will delay it". He added that "by taking votes off those than intend to build it and that's not just in Buckinghamshire, its other parts of the line too... seats like this have been very safe Tory seats, quite big majorities, if they really think they're on the verge of losing this constituency and perhaps one or two further up between now and the election you will get an announcement of some kind."

But the woman said UKIP "haven't got a hope in hell, you really don't have a hope".

David Cameron has been urged by the head of NATO to show continued "leadership" within the alliance amid concerns that UK defence spending is set to drop below the NATO target. Following talks in Downing Street, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg "commended" the UK as just one of four alliance members currently meeting the target to spend 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on the military.

"We appreciate the leadership that the UK shows in the alliance, and we count on leadership also in the future," he said in a statement posted on the NATO website.

On Thursday MPs in the House or Commons passed a motion brought by Billericay Conservative MP John Baron by 37 votes to 3 calling on the government to maintain its level defence spending in the next parliament.

Tory MP Anne McIntosh has confirmed she will not be running as an independent after being deselected by her local party. There had been speculation that Ms McIntosh could stand against the new candidate in Thirsk and Malton constituency in Yorkshire. But she confirmed today that she would instead be focusing "on returning a Conservative government".

"Many have asked me to stand locally in some capacity," she said. "I am honoured but my place is within the party and I would never put personal ambition ahead of the best interests of the country, which can only be served by another government led by David Cameron. I am deeply grateful to all my supporters, and bear no ill-will to those who engaged in a democratic process to change their parliamentary candidate."

Ms McIntosh had been in a long-running dispute with local officials about her political future.

This is an interesting little story from the Guardian. It reports the "elite bastions of the Oxford and Cambridge Unions" have been exempted from the government's counter-terror ban on extremist speakers, external from university campuses.

It says: "The two prestigious student societies have escaped from the home secretary, Theresa May's counter-terror crackdown on non-violent extremism in higher education after a strong lobby from senior Tory peers."

Home Office ministers confirmed to the newspaper that the two unions have been exempted from the ban.

Tax changes introduced under the coalition government have increased the total amount paid by £16.4bn a year - the equivalent of around £255 for every person in the UK - according to a new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

It says that by 2015/16, the coalition will have introduced tax rises totalling £64.3bn - including a £14bn hike in VAT and £5.2bn increase in National Insurance contributions. But that these will have been offset by reductions worth £48bn - including £8bn from raising the personal threshold for income tax, £5.9bn in cuts to corporation tax and £3.9bn from real-terms reductions in fuel duties.

Image source, PA

Just to clarify any possible misconceptions arising from an earlier debate about drugs (where various senior Scottish politicians admitted to a youthful flirtation with cannabis), the Scottish Labour party has said its leader Jim Murphy has never sniffed glue, or indeed taken any illicit substances.

"Just to be clear, Mr Murphy has never taken drugs," a spokesperson for Scottish Labour said. "The point he was making at the Glasgow University debate was that when he was growing up drugs weren't as widespread and that the harmful thing for many people back then was glue sniffing. For the record that's not something Mr Murphy has tried either."

Well, that's it from Nick Eardley and Tom Espiner for today.

• We've seen Lib Dems pledging rent-to-buy homes, external,

• The US rebuking the UK over support for a China-backed competitor to the World Bank,

• And Al Murray's skydive being cancelled, among other stories.

We leave you in the capable hands of Dominic Howell and Matt West. Cheerio.

House of Lords
Parliament

Legislation aimed at speeding up the investigation of complaints made against the NHS has cleared a hurdle in the Lords unopposed. British Medical Association president Baroness Finlay of Llandaff said the Health Service Commissioner for England (Complaint Handling) Bill will make "small but important" changes to the way the health service ombudsman works. The bill requires the ombudsman to send a statement explaining the delay to complainants whose grievance has not been resolved within 12 months. It also commits the ombudsman to including in its annual report details of how long investigations of NHS complaints have taken to conclude and how many remain outstanding.